Democracy and the Human Equation 



207 



It is not that the reviewer is un- 

 willing to accept the "great-man the- 

 ory" of history, but he realizes that 

 there are two sides to this question. 

 Researches which some day will enable 

 us to weight these important historical 

 matters have as yet scarcely been 

 more than started. 



THE LONG ARM OF GOVERNMENT 



The greater portion of Mr. Ireland's 

 book is concerned with the technical 

 aspects of government. He suggests 

 and develops some interesting points 

 of view. He pokes fun at the "rap- 

 sodists" as he calls them, — Fourth of 

 July orators, in Congress and out, 

 with their absurdly untrue phrases, 

 about "liberty," "equality," and 

 "natural rights." 



If the State must continuously be 

 referred to as a "Ship of State" 

 then it needs a self reliant Captain 

 and a trained crew. On the ship of 

 commerce the Captain does not drift 

 aimlessly towards an indefinite port 

 or take a vote of his crew, during the 

 oncoming storm, as to the management 

 of the ship. 



Governments, today, are much more 

 concerned than formerly in every- 

 thing touching our daily routine, 

 and therefore there is all the more need 

 for expert knowledge. How true this 

 is, the author has picturesquely brought 

 out in the following paragraph, p. 95. 



"What is the scope of Government 

 today? I get up in the morning and go 

 into my bathroom: the Department of 

 Justice has been much interested in 

 the Bath Tub Trust. I turn on the 

 water: the Bureau of Public Fran- 

 chises and the Bureau of Bacteriology 

 rise before me. I grasp my tablet 

 of soap: it is made in Chicago by 

 the Beef Trust, the Department of 

 Justice has to know whether it is 

 the product of an agreement in 

 restraint of trade, and whether 

 the manufacturer secured a rebate 

 from the railroad which transported it. 

 I dry my self with a cotton towel: 

 The Department of i\griculture has 

 helped to afford me this convenience 

 by furnishing the cotton-growers with 



a report of the bool-weevil. I step out 

 onto my bath mat: it is an important 

 product — was the consular invoice cor- 

 rect, was the full amount of duty paid 

 on it by the New York customs 

 broker? Presently I find myself in the 

 kitchen, and I light my gas stove — 

 the gas is the concern of the Government 

 I put a lamb chop on the broiler, and 

 as it cooks I speculate as to whether 

 the purple stamp of the Government 

 meat-inspector contains any poison. 

 Presently I take a street-car to my 

 place of business: the street-car itself, 

 the power by which it is propelled, 

 the track along which it runs, the 

 stopping-places along the route, are 

 all affected by Government regulations. 

 I enter my office building: the structure 

 is the concern of the Government, 

 on account of the fire laws; the business 

 I do in it is the concern of the Govern- 

 ment in a dozen particulars dealt with 

 by the Income Tax Law, The Inter- 

 state Commerce Law, the Sherman 

 Act, the Pure Food Law, and so on. 

 Whilst I am reading my mail the tele- 

 phone bell rings — the telephone is 

 the concern of the Government — 

 some one tells me that my child — the 

 child is the concern of the Govern- 

 ment — at the public school — the school 

 is the concern of the Government — 

 has got the diphtheria— the diphtheria 

 is the concern of the Government — 

 I hasten off to pick up my physician — - 

 the physician is the concern of the 

 Government — we go to the school 

 in his automobile — the automobile 

 is the concern of the Government — 

 later on I pay him with a National 

 Bank bill — the National Bank is the 

 concern of the Government; and all 

 this is no more than a sketchy outline 

 of what Government is concerned 

 with today." 



Another novel point of view is 

 Mr. Ireland's extended analysis 

 between Representative Government 

 and Delegated Government, but space 

 does not permit its discussion here. 



The whole tenor of Mr. Ireland's 

 book is a calling out for better govern- 

 ment, — a rule of the best, a recog- 

 nition of the truths of human nature, 



